The good news is, the IRS has finally gotten its systems coded correctly to show that Wendy did file a 2010 tax return. They won’t be sending any more “collection” notices to her, and I don’t have to call the collections department every 60 days.

The bad news is, I now have to figure out how to deal with the IRS Identity Theft Unit.

They wouldn’t talk to Jason, even though he has power of attorney. So the IRS, rather than going out of its way to help identity theft victims whose tax lives are in turmoil, jerks them around. After promptly issuing the fraudulent refunds to the thieves, of course. But at least Doug Shulman’s IRS is doing a bang-up job of selling confidential preparer identification number information.

There isn’t much tax news today thanks to the Hurricane Sandy disaster. Some appropriate coverage: